INDIANAPOLIS — Holding a compact priority list with only one vacancy to address on his roster, Houston coach Kelvin Sampson searched for — and found — the player he wanted in the transfer portal.
Early Saturday morning, junior guard Milos Uzan paid Sampson back.
Uzan kept Houston in the NCAA Tournament by hitting a tiebreaking layup with 0.9 seconds on the clock and sinking a career-high six 3-pointers in a 62-60 victory over Purdue.
On a night when LJ Cryer couldn’t throw the ball in the Indy Canal, Uzan (22 points) and Emanuel Sharp combined for 39 points.
When Sampson called “51” on the final out-of-bounds play, the first option was still Cryer, just as Purdue expected.
Guard Braden Smith, who assisted on all 11 Purdue field goals in the second half and had 15 assists in the loss, was guarding Uzan on the inbounds play. He said the Boilermakers expected to see Cryer coming off a screen for a shot in the corner.
“We were kind of going through what they could run,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “When Braden jumped out to the other side, it opened up that seam and we had to get back there. We just didn’t cover it up.”
Houston trailed at halftime but came out firing in the second half and built the advantage to 10 points, only to prop the door wide open with a field-goal drought that lasted 4 1/2 minutes.
“For us, just finding a way to win,” Sampson said. “It’s kind of what we’ve been pretty good at all year.”
Sampson felt confident the Cougars would end the game with a win when they huddled with 2.8 seconds left to discuss the baseline out-of-bounds set that created Uzan’s shining moment.
“Last play out of bounds, we call it a three-read. They took away the first option. Our discipline allowed us to get to a second option,” Sampson said. “The read allowed us to get to the third option. Credit our guys. We’ve done that three or four times this year. We move on. You get to this point, Sweet 16, every game is a fistfight.”
Fistfight might be appropriate for Sunday’s regional final pitting Tennessee, the No. 1 team in the country in opponent’s field-goal percentage (.382) and Houston, which is fourth in the category (.384) and first in points allowed per game (58.4). Tennessee is No. 8 at 62.8 points permitted per game.
Sampson reminded his troops every game going forward will come down to making the right play when it matters, as Uzan did against Purdue.
“We’re always talking to our guys about hunting numbers advantages,” Sampson said. “Just great execution at a time when we needed that.”
–Jeff Reynolds, Field Level Media
